The Kennedy Detail

JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence

By: Gerald Blaine, Lisa McCubbin

Narrated by: Alan Sklar

Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Even today, almost five decades after John F. Kennedy was slain, the public continues to be captivated by the "Kennedy Curse" and new theories about what really happened on that fateful day in 1963. For nearly 50 years, former Secret Service agent Clint Hill has lived with the unimaginable guilt of losing a president on his watch and has obeyed an honor code of silence, refusing to contribute to any books about the assassination. Until now.

Hill was just eight feet from President Kennedy when bullets pierced the president's head right before his eyes. Covered with blood, Agent Hill pushed Jackie Kennedy into the back seat. Clinging to the trunk of the open-top limousine as it sped away from Dealey Plaza to Parkland Hospital, he slammed his fist in anger, as he looked back to the agents in the follow-up car. His eyes, filled with despair, told them what they already knew.

Including contributions from over 40 agents who were on the Kennedy detail from November 1960 to November 1963 and those who knew them, never-before-published letters written by Jackie Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the bizarre unpublished story about a film Jackie made in September 1963 with the on-duty Secret Service agents about an assassination of the president, and the original November 18, 1963, Tampa security report from the author's personal files, which conspiracy theorists have long claimed was destroyed by the Secret Service, The Kennedy Detail provides an unfiltered look at the events surrounding this pivotal moment in American history.

©2010 Gerald Blaine with Lisa McCubbin (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An important contribution to Kennedy assassination literature because it presents in riveting detail the assassination from the agents' perspective and describes the lifelong emotional burden the agents endured when their best efforts were not enough." ( Library Journal)

Could not stop listening

What made the experience of listening to The Kennedy Detail the most enjoyable?

the story took you on a roller-coaster ride. There were the ups and alot of downs, yet you could still laugh. The writer and reader made it so you could also relate to the story now ( for those who were not born yet) :).

Which character – as performed by Alan Sklar – was your favorite?

Blaine and Hill where my favorites. I laughed and cried for them and well at them.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

After the assasination the story really comes to life. You feel the pain the men felt afterwards. You wanted to know what happened to them after they left the Secret Service, and how it changed there lives. You become so involved with the book you feel as if you lived it with the characters.

I liked this!

Would you listen to The Kennedy Detail again? Why?

I liked hearing about the Kennedy relationships with the Secret Services agents and how his death affected all surrounding him and his family.

Excellent account of that horrible day in November

Where does The Kennedy Detail rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I rate this audio book very highly. The narration was excellent.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Kennedy Detail?

I can't name a most memorable moment; I enjoyed this book from beginning to end.

What about Alan Sklar’s performance did you like?

Well spoken, with a voice that was never tiring. I felt he showed the proper amount of emotion, without becoming theatrical, nor droning. He took on the persona of the character with ease, and created a picture in my mind. And his timing, never too fast nor too slow, was perfect.

Any additional comments?

I have read countless books about the Kennedy's ... their lives, and the president's assassination. This book gave me a different perspective, along with some details I hadn't known before.

Fascinating, but...

A riveting and intimate account of what it was like to protect the president during this era, but defiled by the glaring, festering sore that is Part 2/Chapter 11, in which Blaine whines ad nauseum about how unfair it is that much of America questioned the Warren Report, and put forth their own theories about what may have happened behind-the-scenes, however implausible.

Blaine's indignant protests paint an image that he and his fellow agents were nearly perfect by every measure, that being a Secret Service agent was the most difficult and important occupation in the free world, that they have suffered more than any other individuals in the aftermath of the assassination, and that we should be thinking about their sacrifices every waking moment of our days, nearly fifty years later.

Don't get me wrong…I'm certain that being an agent on the presidential detail is a difficult and thankless task much of the time, but inserting such blatant appeals for personal exoneration and validation into an otherwise fascinating listen is inexcusable.

After several interesting and introspective chapters about Clint Hill, Blaine seizes the epilogue (Part 2/Chapter 14) to repeat his holier-than-thou rant against conspiracy theorists, beats the drum of his thoughts on current targets, threats, and motives, and then appears to go so far as to lecture the current administration, Secret Service leadership, and public about the best approaches, mindsets and policies under which to protect to protect the president, as well as other public figures (who are clearly NOT the president).

I also thought that the notion of a largely autobiographical work (yes, it is blatantly autobiographical) written from the third-person point of view to be really bizarre.

I would only recommend this audio book to people whom I know well (history buffs, perhaps), and only with the above caveats about the content and tone of chapters 11 and 14 (of Part 2).

Interesting to hear the Secret Service tale!

a good listen to hear the Secret Service side of the event before , during and after too

Slow Paced Recap of Fatal Event

This title sort of presents itself as a "tell all" book by one of the protective detail agents -- Mr. Blaine.

While the author is certainly a part of this significant history, he only provides minutia for filler material down to dialog between various agents. I have read many books on this subject and found nothing new except that it was likely the protective details were over-worked and under-staffed. At least, the book would have you believe this. Yet, the author mentions how the Service calls on field agents for support. So, if there are field agents available, why work an agent to the point of failure due to fatigue? Agents going 40-60 hours without sleep? Agents being paid 120 hours of overtime in a month? Not, that it didn't happen, but who was responsible for managing this recipe for failure?

This is a 17 hr book. It should be condensed to about 60% of this time. Between the abundance of detailed information and the slow pace of the narrator, it will make you drowsy.

I’ll never forget that day…

… as a military wife, when it was Unkn out en what was going on, the phone call I got shortly afterwards was that my young husband would not be home until more was known. He wasn’t delayed after all, but the whole base was buzzing.
Then, after mass on Sunday, we found out that Oswald had been killed. That was a shock.
Yep… I remember it well.
This is a great memoir, in all ways. Highly recommend it.

Great Book

Book had a lot of history not just of the President but as well on the Secret Service .

painful to get through

The book has a lot of unneeded details that really don't add anything to the story. The narrator brought me back to my college economics professor where it was dry and monotone. I'm a huge fan of Kennedy but I struggled to get through this and often
forwarded ahead hoping it would get better..

Denial.

I certainly feel for the Secret Service Agents that experienced the tragedy first hand and the guilt they surely had to deal with. But this book seems like a thinly veiled attempt to blame JFK. His defense of the Warren Commission lone nut theory is laughable.